After watching some videos, I've noticed some that when some riders lose their bar, the bar only extends out a few feet. I have my bars set up so that if I pull the safety or lose the bar it runs out to the stopper ball which is the approximate distance of the leading edge of the kite.

So my question is how are their kites depowering when they lose their bar if the bar only runs out a few feet? Am I missing something?

Those leashes that you see in the videos do not depower the kite as they are only attached to the chicken loop, that's why they are called "suicide" leashes. Their function is to prevent a runaway kite, not to depower the kite. In one of the videos, they have wipeout highlights and some of the best wipeouts are on guys on suicide leashes!

Suicide leashes work fine at preventing a run away but fail to depower the kite much. Worse the leash is usually attached to the back of the rider with out an easy disconnect. Under load a suicide leash will not be detachable. The only good news is the kite tends to go to neutral when the bar is accidently released. Generally the kite straightens out and procides to follow a straight course untell it crashes. Once the kite crashes the rider must regain controll of the bar ASAP.
The suicide leash is only a tool to make handle passes a bit safer for the public. They should NEVER be used near land. A secondary depower ring should be easyly assessable to swich from standard connection to suicide connection and back again for going near shore.
The suicide leash is a big improvment over the days when guys just let go during failed attemts at handle passes.
Remember, Failure to use a leash might get us explelled from the beach!
Keep that big dog up tied up some how,
L.M.G.